2008 New Years Resolutions

There are far too many people who just don't make the effort to develop New Years Resolutions. I won't deny have a long list of resolutions that were forgotten after the 3rd week of January, but it is so sad to think that people justify alack of goals this way. Whether or not they are kept is unimportant to me, rather it is the act of sitting down and evaluating my life for areas that can be improved. A year from now I will be able to look back and see if I made any improvements in my life. If I do achieve them, a pat on the back is in order. If I don't, I will get to re-evaluate my life once more and try to improve. This year I came up with 10 things I would like to be in the habit of doing by the time 2009 rolls around.

Jenna Andersen's New Years Resolutions 2008

1. Travel throughout Europe before doing study abroad in Poland
• I am planning to do the BYU study abroad program in Poland this July and August, and before I do that I really want to spend 2 weeks visiting England, France, Spain, and Italy. Being able to do this will be determined by how well I stick to #3 on the list.
  
2. Use Fitday for 60 consecutive days
• This is fitday. And I love it. If you want to lose weight, this is the way to go. Well unless you have the money to get a bodybugg.
  
3. Stick to budget every month
• I have a real budget of my very own for the first time in my life. I have been tracking what I am spending using Microsoft Money for the past few months, and it is time for me to learn how to reign things in a little bit. Spend a little less on food, a little less on my hair, and a lot less on my personal care (I admit to being a little bit of a makeup junkie) and cut out my bad habit of impulse buying completely and I should be able to make this one a reality.
  
4. Earn a 4.0 for 1 of the 2 semesters I have left in school
• Definitely my most difficult goal out of all of them. I have to do 2 more 18 credit semesters to graduate in December, but with grammar out of the way I am feeling like it is doable now :)
  
5. Read one article from the Ensign each week
• Every time I sit down to read out of the Ensign I wonder why I don't do read from it all of the time. So inspiring and uplifting, a good chance to destress from life. And a good opportunity to remember that most everyone else is struggling with the same things that I am.
  
6. Read one chapter from Jesus the Christ each week
• An entire chapter feels daunting, I could spend a week reading an entire page of Talmage's masterpiece.
  
7. Write in my journal once a week
• I am actually not doing too bad at this, the problem is that I only do it during church, which means I am doing something good (you know, writing in my journal), but I am ignoring something better (the principles being taught to me in church). Thus, I am shooting to write once a week, but I would really like it to be once a week during a time OTHER than during church. I have been writing more frequently than I ever have before this past year, and it is wonderful to be able to read back through the things I wrote and see how I have changed.
  
8. Finish the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price by 2009
• This goal won't seem quite as achievable at the end of the year, but it really only breaks down to just over a chapter a day. I can so do this. I will just have to remember that when I am in the 70+ verse chapters. And Isaiah.
  
9. Read Mere Christianity, The Hobbit, A Tale of Two Cities, A Room of One’s Own, The Little Prince, The Wizard of Oz, Animal Farm, and Of Mice and Men
• Mere Christianity because I have a book that has a quote from one of C.S. Lewis's works for each day of the year, and it is so inspiring. Anyone quoted by the Apostles is just a genius.
• The Hobbit because I remember starting it once, but I don't remember ever finishing. After Hobbit I plan to move on to the LOTR trilogy, something I am pretty certain I have never attempted.
• A Tale of Two Cities because I read Hard Times this past semester and I hated it. So I plan to give Dickens another chance.
• A Room of One's Own because I can't ever expect to be a good writer before I read one of the best female writer's best works.
  
• The Little Prince is a work that I first learned about from our Chinese foreign exchange student Kong Yi. I thought it was a silly book if she was reading it, but I seem to be coming across frequent references to it lately.
• The Wizard of Oz because the journal that I write in is actually a Wizard of Oz themed journal with quotes from the text sprinkled throughout the pages.
• Animal Farm because I am planning to live the majority of my life in a post-communist society, and communism is something I can't even being to understand. Plus it is short which is something to be appreciated at times.
  
• Of Mice and Men because the Pearl is one of my favorite books of all time and I would like to read another one of his works.
  
10. Blog every day for 1 month
1. Anything goes for this one. I just have to have one thing posted for one day of the entire month.